<?php
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 * Copyright © 2018 Alex Yst <mailto:copyright@y.st>
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$xhtml = array(
	'<{title}>' => 'Let&apos;s annoy the customers into not coming back!',
	'takedown' => '2017-11-01',
	'<{body}>' => <<<END
<img src="/img/CC_BY-SA_4.0/y.st./weblog/2018/07/02.jpg" alt="A balcony that caught my attention" class="framed-centred-image" width="649" height="480"/>
<section id="Minetest">
	<h2>Minetest</h2>
	<p>
		I came to the realisation today that I don&apos;t need to build the shrines I mentioned yesterday in the order I come up with their general theme.
		I should keep a list of the ideas I come up with for wheat- and cotton-related shrines as I go, but go back to my original shrine-building order.
		That puts Ancient Orchard back as the first shrine, where it belongs.
	</p>
	<p>
		I&apos;ve also recalculated the location of the orchard using the new algorithm.
		It&apos;s to be put right into the side of a cliff.
		I&apos;m probably going to end up needing to tear down most if not all of a small mountain to put the orchard there.
		While calculating these coordinates, I actually found a way to make the computer do more of the work.
		The basic premise of the algorithm is to first translate the strings into integers using Minetest&apos;s string-seed-to-integer-seed process for lack of a better option, then modulo the resulting numeric seed by the number of blocks wide the map is.
		However, the numeric seeds are 64-bit unsigned integers.
		Lua uses floats for everything, so I lose the precision I need.
		My go-to language, $a[PHP], uses signed integers, but like Lua, has no concept of unsigned integers.
		I&apos;ve been having to do some of the maths by hand to get the number down into a range $a[PHP] can handle.
		I&apos;ve found though that I can split the number up when entering it, modulo the most-significant part, put it back together, and modulo again.
		This brings the numbers down so far that not only can $a[PHP] handle them, but Lua can as well.
		I can enter the seeds directly into the code of the Minetest mod that reserves the areas, and during testing, can even put up scaffolding to teleport me to those places.
	</p>
	<p>
		On second thought, maybe I <strong>*shouldn&apos;t*</strong> tear down the mountain.
		The orchard might turn out more interesting if I try to work the mountain cliff into the design.
		I&apos;d been considering adding a few streams between the normal-sized trees, so maybe a couple of waterfalls down the cliff would be a good idea.
		The tricky part is that the centre, where the Great Apple Tree should be, is exactly where the cliff is.
		In theory, half the trunk should be down below and the other half up above.
		Obviously, that&apos;s not going to work.
		My first idea was to either embed the great tree in the cliff or to build a balcony of sorts up above on which to build the tree.
		If I embedded the tree in the cliff, the tree is so tall that only most of the trunk would end up actually half inside the cliff.
		None of the leaves or apples would be encased in rock.
		This&apos;d give a nice opportunity to allow players to get up near the leaves and apples.
		On the other hand, with the balcony, I could make the tree even higher, even though not taller.
		When viewed from the beach below, the tree might seem even more impressive.
		My next idea was to simply move the great tree.
		While I have very specific plans for where I want the tunnel entrances, and the shrines will be centred on those entrances for practicality in coding the protected areas that surround them until I finish each shrine, the apple tree isn&apos;t the widest tree.
		The protected areas are specifically just wide enough to accommodate the Great Acacia Tree, the widest tree I&apos;ll have to deal with.
		Thinner trees, such as the Great Apple Tree, will have some room to be moved a bit while still remaining within its designated, protected plot.
		If I moved the tree fully down to the beach, its leaves would hang over the cliff, but the tree wouldn&apos;t be embedded in the cliff side any more.
		If I moved it up, the leaves would hang over the beach below, but again, no embedding.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="drudgery">
	<h2>Drudgery</h2>
	<p>
		My discussion post for the day:
	</p>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			That&apos;s very interesting.
			By that older definition, not all comedies have to be happy; they just have to end on a positive note.
			I wonder why the meaning was changed in later years.
		</p>
		<p>
			I agree, timing and audience are key.
			There&apos;s been many a time when I&apos;ve come up with a witty response to something, but it&apos;s been just a bit too late for it to be even worth saying.
			And like you said, not everyone finds the same things funny.
		</p>
	</blockquote>
	<p>
		My task for today was to research a philosopher from a list assigned by the university and write a paper about them.
		Of particular note, the assignment said:
	</p>
	<blockquote>
		<p>
			Please look briefly at each and pick the one that will give you the most rewarding experience to learn more about. 
		</p>
	</blockquote>
	<p>
		With the school censoring me though, they&apos;ve completely drained my enthusiasm for learning.
		Nothing they ever assign me is rewarding any more.
		It&apos;s a complete about-face from before, when I was excited to study whatever they set my upon.
		Anything I write up for coursework is now censored though, making it necessarily very <strong>*un*</strong>rewarding.
	</p>
	<p>
		I wrote up part of the paper, but my boss unexpectedly held me after my scheduled shift because their boss gave them a bunch of pointless tasks to complete tonight.
		So while they and the other manager on duty completed these tasks, I helped keep everything from falling apart.
		And fall apart they would have, without me.
		With the two managers busy, there was only one person running the entire store; or there would have been, if I&apos;d not been there to be a second person.
		And with the late rush, we really could have used a third.
		There&apos;s no way one person could&apos;ve kept on top of things when the two of us were struggling so badly.
		Anyway, this officially puts me behind schedule for the week.
		That said, my schedule accounted for my mother kidnapping me to go out of town and celebrate some holiday I don&apos;t care about.
		I mean, I already don&apos;t care about holidays, but a holiday in celebration of a country I detest?
		Yeah.
		I double don&apos;t care about Independence Day.
		But my mother hasn&apos;t said a word about it, and there&apos;s only a day remaining before she&apos;d have to drop it on me the day of the holiday.
		I don&apos;t think she&apos;s bringing me, if she&apos;s going herself.
		I feel like maybe she expected me to beg her to go or something instead of her bringing it up like she always does, but she&apos;s the one that even cares.
		Since we don&apos;t seem to be going, I have one more day than expected, and it&apos;s a day off from work.
		I should be able to catch up before the hard deadline.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="recipe">
	<h2>Ranch dressing experiment</h2>
	<p>
		I set up a small mixture of vinegar and store-bought ranch dressing a couple days ago.
		I haven&apos;t seen that yellow liquid I&apos;ve been having separate out from my own home-made ranch dressing, but there&apos;s been a few issues.
		First, the batch is tiny.
		I&apos;m not sure how visible the yellow liquid would be at that scale.
		Second, there&apos;s been tiny bubbles of something strange in the bottom.
		I&apos;ve worried those might be the usual yellow liquid, but there&apos;s not enough of it to form a full layer across the bottom of the jar.
		And third, some parts of the mixture are thicker than others, and I wasn&apos;t sure whether I&apos;d not mixed it all the way or if it&apos;d begun to separate.
		Anyway, tired of waiting for a more-obvious yellow liquid layer and unsure of my initial level of blending, I decided to thoroughly mix the stuff and start the watch anew.
		The main thing I found is that the strange bubbles of something aren&apos;t bubbles at all.
		They&apos;re solid.
		I think the store-bought ranch might have garlic chunks in it; they&apos;re not a product of vinegar-induced problems.
		Anyway, I guess I&apos;ll watch for consistency issues now, but I think the yellow liquid issue isn&apos;t going to be a problem.
		At least, again, at this scale.
		I might need to bump up the scale if I don&apos;t see any problems this time.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="Kubbi">
	<h2>Kubbi subscription</h2>
	<p>
		I ended up on Bandcamp for something unrelated, and every time I log in, I get dropped on my music collection page, regardless of what I was doing.
		&quot;Oh, Alex is trying to log in to finalise the purchase of a Marc With a C tee-shirt?
		Better redirect them to the collection page instead of the payment page.&quot;
		Seriously, who decided <strong>*that*</strong> was a good idea?
		Anyway, any time I end up on my collection page, I check out my unreviewed Kubbi content to make sure it&apos;s fine to leave it visible on the page.
		Once more, Kubbi has dumped another non-free album into my free music collection.
		It feels like I have to moderate my collection these days, or I&apos;m advertising non-free albums I never intended to advertise.
		I&apos;m done with this.
		I&apos;m done supporting Kubbi.
		I&apos;ve cancelled my subscription.
		Honestly, they have some interesting sounds on their free albums, but I need my free music page to stay free of non-free music.
		I don&apos;t have the time and energy to keep a watch on this page for Kubbi&apos;s shenanigans.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="up-sell">
	<h2>Up-selling to the point of annoying</h2>
	<p>
		As I said a couple sections back, the boss&apos;s boss was in today.
		That is, the franchise owner.
		They&apos;re a greedy and uncaring person, but thankfully, we don&apos;t have to deal directly with them very often.
		Today though, just since they were there, they got on my case about not up-selling enough.
		I try to up-sell when it&apos;s reasonable to do so.
		While I don&apos;t like doing it, and I&apos;m annoyed when people try to up-sell to me, it&apos;s part of what keeps me on a register, where I can make tips.
		If I don&apos;t up-sell, I&apos;ll be replaced and sent to do something else in the store.
		Anyway, the franchise owner told me to try up-selling repeatedly to each customer.
		Their verbatim words were &quot;make &apos;em say &apos;no&apos; three times&quot;.
		Seriously?
		If someone were to try two up-sells, I might cancel my order.
		If they tried <strong>*three*</strong>, I definitely would.
		Needles to say, customers were getting annoyed with me, and I could hear it in their voices.
		They didn&apos;t cancel their orders or anything, but they certainly didn&apos;t buy much more.
		A couple bought more from the second up-sell, but no one bought more from the third.
	</p>
	<p>
		The franchise owner threatened me, too.
		They said if I didn&apos;t <strong>*successfully*</strong> up-sell more, they&apos;d not allow me to work on a register.
		They continued that not being allowed to work the registers could affect my hours.
		Seriously?
		I don&apos;t think they actually keep their thumb on things as much as they were implying.
		They mostly sit back lazily and let the head manager do their thing, and the head manager doesn&apos;t have a problem with me on a till.
		I&apos;m one of the better till workers.
		Even if they did ban me from the registers though, it&apos;d be worth it not to annoy our customers.
		Even taking less hours over it would be fine.
		It&apos;d mean more time for coursework and more time to hopefully actually get looking for my next job.
		The franchise owner will probably lose money though if they do ban me from till duty.
		Like I said, I&apos;m one of the better till workers.
	</p>
</section>
END
);
